


The Morning After The Night Before

by sksdwrld



Series: Asterisk [28]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, M/M, Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 16:09:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2818241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sksdwrld/pseuds/sksdwrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of Crossing The Line</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Morning After The Night Before

The prickle of unshaven whiskers tickled the back of Elliot's neck and he stirred, stretching his legs downward. There was an accompanying movement behind him and a knee shifted and pressed up, gently nudging his balls. The glide of a warm palm over his ribcage soothed him as he startled and was followed by a low chuckle.

Mind racing, Elliot quickly made all the necessary connections and found himself paralyzed by the unfamiliarity of the situation at hand. He swallowed and held his breath as the hand idly stroking him made its way down his hip and around to his erection. After teasing a gasp from him, Armand murmured a familiar request against his neck, "Elliot, coffee..."

Elliot nodded automatically and slipped from the embrace, his eyes sweeping the floor for his pants, which he found carefully draped over a nearby armchair instead. He couldn't meet Armand's eyes as he slid into them and grabbing up his dress shirt, all but rushed out into the unfamiliar apartment, already mentally stumbling over whether he was meant to make it or purchase it. The clink of dishes in the kitchen made Elliot draw up short and on seeing the short, dark-haired woman, he froze again, flushing from head to toe.

She glanced at him and smiled, then reached into one of the cabinets. "Good morning. My name is Esmeralda. I am Mr. DeLuca's housekeeper. He is wanting his usual coffee and how do you take yours?" She seemed completely unphased and continued to smile patiently while Elliot stammered.

"Yes. Um, I don't. Take coffee that is." He held his shirt in front of his bare chest, shrugging into it as Esmeralda clucked her tongue and turned to start on Armand's coffee, measuring beans and dumping them into a grinder.

"You want a protein shake?" She offered, as if used to such requests from Armand's overnight guests and without the malice of innuendo, which Elliot silently applied himself. "Vitamin water?"

Truth be told, Elliot didn't want anything but it seemed expected of him so he shook his head again and licked his lips. "Um, tea, please? If you have it."

Esmeralda hummed softly and nodded, then gestured toward a tall stool behind the countertop. "Come, sit. Tell me your name and if I should expect to see you again." She busied herself with the ground beans, making Armand's coffee and boiling the water for tea, easily holding up conversation with Elliot, though she may as well have been pulling teeth from him. When everything was finished, she handed the cups on their respective saucers to Elliot, nodded toward the bedroom, and bid him farewell as though he wasn't expected to reemerge.

Armand had propped himself up against the headboard by the time Elliot returned and he took the coffee from him, upper lip twitching in amusement. Elliot slid his tea, untouched, onto the bedside table and awkwardly ruffled the hair at the back of his head. God, his boss. What had he been thinking? "I should probably..." Elliot gestured vaguely toward the door that he'd just come through.

"You should remove your clothes and get back into bed," Armand instructed, taking two large sips from his cup.

He stared at Armand, with his tanned, toned chest and the grey hair that peppered it, trailing down over the slight potbelly and disappearing into the sheets pooled loosely about his hips. Armand was in better shape than Daniel had been; was better looking overall, and yet, their demeanors were much the same- arrogant, entitled, authoritative. Elliot's body was conditioned to respond, and respond it did. Verbally however, he was lost. His mouth opened, then closed.

Armand took another swallow of coffee and set his cup aside. "Are you having regrets, Elliot?"

"I just..." Elliot swallowed again. "You're my boss and it seems like..."

"Like business and pleasure shouldn't mix?" Armand posed the question and Elliot agreed with a nod. "I take pleasure from my business, Mr. Whitley. I wouldn't be so successful if it wasn't. That said, your job is secure for the terms we outlined, regardless of your decision here, although I'm certainly amenable to..." his lips quirked up. "Other, less formal but infinitely more enjoyable arrangements, should you find yourself interested in...mixing business with pleasure."

Elliot stood still a moment longer and then his hands crept upward, taking down the buttons of his shirt purposefully. There was no doubt that he'd harbored something of a crush for his employer for weeks now. That he had been afforded the opportunity to take things farther last night and again now was certainly no coincidence. Somethings, his friends told him, were meant to be, and surely the sort of arrangement that Armand hinted at was the very thing that Elliot was made for, groomed for, so many years ago.

Elliot could feel Armand's eyes on him and it emboldened him. He shrugged back out of his clothes, returning them to the armchair he'd found them on, and climbed between the sheets that Armand held aloft for him. "I've always known you were a smart boy," Armand purred, nibbling Elliot's earlobe and palming his erection. Sighing, Elliot widened his legs in accommodation. Hearing that was like coming home.

 

\----

 

By the time Elliot had finished with Armand, he was late for his regular Saturday morning visit in Jersey. The driver seemed to sense it too and asked if there was somewhere else he wanted to be taken to, aside from home. Elliot blurted Jay and Christina's address, even though part of him just wanted to shower and change. By the time he got there, Christina had already taken the kids out and Jay was all alone, though none the worse for wear.

"Alright," Jay said about half an hour in to Elliot's visit. "What's eating you?"

"Me?" Elliot lifted his head from his hands and Jay made a face at him and nodded, indicating Elliot's posture, which spoke volumes about his mood. Elliot sighed and dropped his head back down as he scrubbed his face. "I...I slept with my boss. Twice."

Jay snorted a laugh. "The old, Italian guy?"

"Yeah."

"Must have been a hell of a lay if you went back for seconds..."

"Jay..." Elliot bemoaned.

"Elliot," Jay fixed him with a look. The trademark, Noriega-no-bullshit look. But Jay knew that Elliot wasn't the sort to brag about his sexual conquests, and the contemplative silence that Elliot lapsed into didn't seem to surprise him. After awhile, he prompted, "So why'd you do it then, if you didn't wanna?"

"I wanted to. I still want to. I'll probably do it again."

"I'm really not seeing the problem here," Jay grumbled, reaching for his cup and staring down at the contents for a minute before taking a drink."

"Aside from the fact that he's my employer?" Elliot tugged at his hair in frustration then sat up. "Look, I'm not so dense that I can't see this for what it is--"

"What is it? Coupla people doing what people do? What are you worried about? What other people are going to think? Fuck that."

"Daniel," Elliot said pointedly. "He reminds me of Daniel."

Jay let loose a string of curses in Spanish and rolled his eyes. "Fuck Daniel. Seriously, Elliot. Every goddamn thing reminds you of Daniel and gives you stupid anxiety. He's dead. Move on."

"Move on!" Elliot felt his eyes bulge at the suggestion. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Jay's lips curled into a small smile the way they always did when Elliot lost his filter and started swearing in earnest.

"Nah, I ain't kidding you. It's time to fucking be done with that shit. You're a grown ass man. You do what you want: You take risks and accept the consequences. You wanna sleep with your boss? Go to fucking town. Just make sure you're ready to lose your job, 'cause that's about the worst thing that'll come of it."

Elliot swallowed and pressed his fist to his lips. If he called Jammer or Merin or Gina or anyone else, they'd certainly tell him otherwise. But he hadn't called them. Wouldn't. Because he didn't want to be talked out of what he already knew was a bad decision. He wanted permission, and Jay had given him that, just like he'd known he would. 

Nodding, Elliot looked away for a moment, reconciling his pounding heart. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Maybe you're right." After another long pause he got up, went into the kitchen and helped himself to a bottle of water. He stood in the doorway when he came back, looking out over all the rainbow colored detritus of children's toys that littered the corners and lined the walls, despite Chris's best efforts to corral them. "So. How are the kids?"


End file.
